An interesting and completely unplanned overlap with today's #FilmDuJour, Robert Hossein's menacing Le vampire de Düsseldorf (1965). Both are based on real-life serial killer Peter Kürten's doings (plus in M's case, Fritz Haarman and Carl Großmann). #FritzLang met Kürten as part of his research, and cast 25 real criminals as extras for his #film.

#cinemastodon

#Bales2023FilmChallenge September 6: freebie: lipstick (July 29 redux)

Set in 1950s #Calcutta, #SatyajitRay's মহানগর [Mahanagar / The Big City] (1963) is a story of emancipation in a changing society. Arati (#MadhaviMukherjee) is a housewife from a traditionalist family, who – in order to support her relatives' lavish demands – goes out to work as a door-to-door saleswoman. Slowly, she discovers her independence.

#film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge September 7: deli meat for #NationalSalamiDay

#ArnoldLaven's The Monster That Challenged the World (1957) is one of the earliest, if not thé earliest, example of this peculiar movie and television trope: the coroner's lunchbreak. Having some cold cuts over some cold cuts never gets old. Or appetising.

#TimHolt #AudreyDalton #HansConried #monsters #SciFi #horror #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge September 8: pardoned on #PardonDay

#AbbasKiarostami's Close-Up (1990) is a visual narrative illustrating a crime. A cinephile pretends to be a filmmaker and slowly extorts a family into believing to star in the director's next film. An article about the case intrigued director Kiarostami so much that he decided to film the court case against Sabzian, and ask the accused, Makhmalbaf and the Ahankhah family to reenact some of the events.

#film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge September 9: speaking German on #GermanLanguageDay

Bruno Stroszek (#BrunoS.), Eva (#EvaMattes) and Scheitz (#ClemensScheitz) decide to leave dreary #Berlin behind and move to #Wisconsin where the latter's nephew lives. A new life, with dreams of music and animal magnetism, awaits them there. As so oft with #Herzog, the story behind #Stroszek (1977) is as engrossing as the resulting film ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/stroszek-1977

#WernerHerzog #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge September 10: the pet dies on #NationalPetMemorialDay

Bandiera and Rabbino, two young bumpkins, find that their pet sheep has been butchered by their father in Sergio Citti's Ostia (1970). Years later, the two share their lives with a beautiful blonde who they found believing to be dead.

#SergioCitti #PierPaoloPasolini #LaurentTerzieff #FrancoCitti #AnitaSanders #drama #animals #Italy #1970s #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge September 11: boss and employee

Mr R (#KurtRaab) is a hardworking, almost invisible man. He laughs along with his coworkers' stale jokes. He neatly completes his tasks and politely nods when the boss berates him. He smokes too much and is told to cut it down. His son fails at school and Mrs R. wishes nicer furniture and a skiing holiday, when Mr R.'s promoted.

So why does Herr R run amok? ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/warum-lauft-herr-r

#MichaelFengler #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge September 12: a police woman on #NationalPoliceWomanDay

Rei (#MikiSugimoto) is a member of the top secret Division Zero of the #Tokyo police department. Hired to investigate a high-profile kidnapping, she infiltrates the gang and kills them off with her signature blood-red handcuffs. #YukioNoda's Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs (1974) is the first of no less than 9 instalments and based on #TōruShinohara's #manga O課の女 ⛓️ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/0ke-nonu-chi-ishou-ding-1974

#PinkuEiga #film #CineMastodon

#Bales2023FilmChallenge September 13: Uncle Sam for #UncleSamDay

Even before a single note had come out of Mick's mouth, someone had punched him in the head. By the time #TheRollingStones open their set, the #HellsAngels are far into their $500 beer bounty, and the audience far out of their mind. Meredith Hunter, high on drugs, had brought a gun. And the Angels did what they were ordered to: stop anyone from getting close ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/gimme-shelter-1970

#film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 4: children behave like adults on #NationalEasyBakeOvenDay

While #JaimeHumbertoHermosillo Matinée (1977) has elements of a typical 70s #ComingOfAge movie, the more fascinating element is the role reversal of the two children and the robbers. As the kids are forced to grow up, fast, the criminals live out their childhood fantasy of never having to listen to anyone ever again. And bicker over comics ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/matinee-1977

#Mexico #cinemastodon #film @film

- Come, this party is for hard-working people!

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 5: light a #bonfire for #BonfireNight

It started, #Estonia​ns will tell you, 4000 years ago when #Kaali appeared. Ever since, come rain or shine, come socialism or capitalism, the people gather and light #bonfires in its remembrance ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/jaanipaev-1978

This is #AndresSööt magical Jaanipäev (1978)

#documentary #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film #jaaniõhtu #MidSummer

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 6: play basketball on #PlayBasketballDay

Within the boundaries of #SharonLockhart's static camera, girls from Goshogaoka junior high school practice #basketball. In six uninterrupted 10 minute scenes we see them warm up and train several typical moves. With the camera set in one position, some of the action happens off-screen, resulting in unrehearsed synchronised choreography. This is *Goshogaoka* [*御所ケ丘*] (1998) ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/goshogaoka-1998

#film @art_film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 7: someone drinks red wine on #InternationalMerlotDay

Seconds (#JohnFrankenheimer, 1966)

At a bacchanalia, #RockHudson's Antiochus Wilson finally strips down his hesitancy and realises he has a second chance at life, as a member of the new generation. To the Queen of #wine! To Bacchus! To Pan!

https://write.underworld.fr/settima/seconds-1966 #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film #DavidEly #RockHudson #JamesWongHowe #Scifi

- More shoes, more boots, more garlic.

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 8: someone #cooking something special for #CookSomethingBoldDay

After boiling for five hours in a concoction of #garlic, #herbs, and stock, the shoe was ready to eat and #Herzog could keep his promise to fellow director Errol Morris. This is Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980).

#film #cinemastodon #LesBlank #WernerHerzog #ErrolMorris #ShortFilm #USA #food #documentary #1980s ★★★★½

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 9: chaos breaks out on #ChaosNeverDiesDay

Matka Joanna od Aniolów (#JerzyKawalerowicz, 1961) takes place four years after the tragic events at #Loudun. Mother superior, the titular Mother Joan of the Angels, is still possessed by the Devil & has slowly pulled in the other #nuns. A priest, the fourth, is send over to exorcise the demons who at this point have possessed all but one sister. Chaos ensues. https://write.underworld.fr/settima/matka-joanna-od-aniolow-1961

#film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

- Fame will go by, and so long, I've had you, fame.

#Bales2023FilmChallenge: November 10: a diseased actor on #ForgetMeNotDay

Everyone assumed that Ellen, swept away during a yacht race, was gone. But there she is, years later, and very much alive. Marilyn wasn't that fortunate. On August 4, 1962, 2 months after she was fired from Something's Got to Give (#GeorgeCukor, 1962), Monroe was found dead in her home. She was only 36 years old.

#MarilynMonroe #film @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 11: origami for #WorldOrigamiDay

Ceremonial #origami, known as girei or #origata can be seen hanging from the altar in this scene from #NagisaŌshima's 儀式 [Gishiki / The Ceremony] (1971).

#Shinto #Shintō #神道 #Japan #1970s #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 12: #pneumonia on #WorldPneumoniaDay

In #KenRussell's Mahler (1974), the sickly composer and his wife Alma (#GeorginaHale) dwell on their shared lives while travelling to #Vienna by train. Storylines – circular like a journey, rondo like #Mahler's compositions – drift from the ordinary to the grotesque ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/mahler-1974

#film #cinema #CineMastodon @film @art_film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 13: someone becomes orphaned on #WorldOrphansDay

Les enfants terribles (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1950), based on a novel by Jean Cocteau.

With their mother bedridden, Elisabeth (#NicoleStéphane) nurtures her snowball-fight-injured brother Paul (#EdouardDermithe) back to health. Withdrawn in their family home, they form a strong manipulative bond, drawing others into their games ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/les-enfants-terribles-1950

#JeanPierreMelville #JeanCocteau #film #cinemastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 14: a child reading on #YoungReadersDay

#FrançoisTruffaut explores L'enfant sauvage (1970) right when the idea of the noble savage seemed to lock on with counterculture. With #Truffaut as Victor's tutor Itard in front of the camera, directly guiding amateur child actor (and “gipsy”) Cargol, the film not only reimagines Victor's fate, but reenacts Western presumed enlightenment over The Other ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/lenfant-sauvage-1970

#film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 16: an Andy for #NationalAndyDay

Everything is noise. Everything is light. Everything is dark. Everything is motion. Everything is static. Everything is energy. Everything is lethargy. Everything is rhythm. Everything is chaos. Everything is silent.

https://write.underworld.fr/settima/kick-that-habit-1989 #PeterLiechti #VoiceCrack #NorbertMöslang #AndyGuhl #film #cinema #CineMastodon #noise #ExperimentalMusic #Documentary #Switzerland @art_film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 17: someone sets a world record on #GuinnessWorldRecordsDay

#DavidCobham's #Muloorina (1964) tells about a small, arid town in #Australia that one day finds itself on the world's stage. Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre, a local salt lake that hasn't seen a drop of rain in nine years, is the perfect spot for a landspeed record attempt by British daredevil #DonaldCampbell and his #Bluebird ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/muloorina-1964

#film #documentary #cinema #cars #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 18: an adoption on #NationalAdoptionDay

#JohannesSchaaf Tätowierung [Tattoo aka The Delinquent] (1967)

16 year old Benno (#ChristofWackernagel) lives in reformatory until the Lohmanns, a rich altruistic #WestBerlin business couple decides to adopt him. For the teenager, this neatly regulated new bourgeois life feels all wrong. With his ne'er-do-well mate Sigi, Benno traverses #Berlin ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/tatowierung-1967

#film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

– Get the #OuijaBoard.
– It's got the Bible on top of it, keeping it quiet.

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 19: play a #boardgame on #PlayMonopolyDay

Two neat little ladies playing that quirky 1891 novelty game in #RolandWest's The Bat Whispers (1930) summon the aforementioned bat, black-clad fiend and #Batman predecessor. Who is he? What does he want? And how can he be stopped? Do you know the answer?

YES                 NO
      GOOD B Y E

#PreCode #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 20: a #BeautifulDay

Two hopeless lonely hearts meet each other at #ConeyIsland, spending the most wonderful day in each other's company.

#PálFejős' joyful Lonesome (1928) was made just when motion pictures became talkies, and new and more modern novelties were expected by the audience. Fejős delivers, with sound and musical inserts, and the occasional – almost shocking – burst of colour ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/lonesome-1928

#film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 21: an entrepreneur for #NationalEntrepreneursDay

In my book, entrepreneur is just a fancy talk for conman. A famous one, the one who may've tried to sell you the #BrooklynBridge, was George C. Parker. #MaeWest's Peaches O'Day bamboozles it her way in #AEdwardSutherland's Every Day's a Holiday (1937). And boy, does she have a bridge to sell you!

https://write.underworld.fr/settima/every-days-a-holiday-1937

#PreCode #vaudeville #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 22: a #birthday party for #BalesBirthday!

Happy birthday, @bales1181!

Screenshot from satirical allegory #JanNěmec's O slavnosti a hostech [A Report on the Party and Guests] (1966)

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 23: family dinner for #Thanksgiving

While mother Scorsese's famous meatballs in gravy is working its way to perfection, son Martin interviews his parents Catherine and Charles. For those unsure what to cook, and for those who don't celebrate Thanksgiving at al, mama's recipe is included in #MartinScorsese's #Italianamerican (1974) end credits. And here ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/italianamerican-1974

#documentary #food #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 24: holiday shopping on #BlackFriday

A little boy takes in the magic of pre-Christmas, while the adults rush and worry about all that must to be bought in #RolandKlick's Weihnacht (1963) > https://write.underworld.fr/settima/weihnacht-1963

#holidays #Christmas #ShortFilm #documentary #docudrama #capitalism #WestGermany #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 25: protecting a woman on #WhiteRibbonDay

In #AkiraKurosawa's 隠し砦の三悪人 [The Hidden Fortress] (1958), a couple of greedy peasants escort a man and woman across enemy lines after the man has promised them a share of the gold they're carrying. Unknowingly, the fools not only protect their bounty, but a general and princess trying to escape an enemy clan so they can rebuild their kingdom ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/yin-shizhai-nosan-e-ren-1958

#ToshirōMifune #MisaUehara #film #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 26: a koala for #WorldLewisDay

It's not possible to be in #nature, one can only be absorbed by it. This is Peter Weir's Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975).

#film #cinema #CineMastodon @film #PeterWeir #JoanLindsay #BookAdaptation #Australia #koalas #animals #drama #1970s

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 27: online shopping on #CyberMonday

- What year is it now? I forgot.

In the soul crushing future of 1999, one heroic nuclear family bravely fulfils their gender-specific duties. While Father Mike works in his computer-aided office, Son Jamie fails at computer homeschool and Mother Karen slavishly shops, cooks, and cleans the cyber way. Thankfully, the future turned out to be even bleaker than #LeeMadden could've imagined in his 1999 A.D. (1967).

#film #SciFi

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 28: someone is given something special for #GivingTuesday

#JeanCocteau & #RenéClément's La Belle et la Bête (1946)

Just before leaving home, a father asks his three daughters what he can bring them as a return gift. The eldest two ask for silly, extravagant things, but the youngest simply wishes the most beautiful flower. The father finds it in an enchanted garden, guarded by a terrible beast… ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/la-belle-et-la-bete-1946

#Cocteau #film #CineMastodon @film

Peace is at hand.
— Henry #Kissinger,1972

#Bales2023FilmChallenge Nov 30: #warcrime

Over an 11 day period, the 1972 #Christmas bombings resulted in 20000 tons of American shells being dropped on #Hanoi & #Haiphong, killing at least 1624 civilians. During this unmentionable carnage, #HảiNinh directed The Little Girl of Hanoi (1974), which gave the people of North #Vietnam not only a face, but a voice ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/em-be-ha-noi-1974 #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film #warcrimes

#Bales2023FilmChallenge December 1: #Christmas lights for #NationalChristmasLightsDay

It took experimental filmmaker #MarieMenken three years to shoot Lights (1966). From midnight until 1 AM, she filmed New York's window displays during the holiday season, using her camera, motion, colour, and available light sources as her paintbrush ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/lights-1966 #ShortFilm #ExperimentalFilm #ArtFilm #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film @art_film

If you have a #Vimeo account, you can watch #MarieMenken's Lights (1966) on The #Film-Makers' Coop channel here https://vimeo.com/230187590

@film @art_film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge December 2: shaving on #SafetyRazorDay

Accompanied by the sweet tunes of I Can't Get Started, a young man shaves. The Big Shave (1967) is short but contains many of the hallmarks of #MartinScorsese's later work. #Scorsese's theme here is the carnage laid upon so many young men sent off to the smouldering battlefields of the East. There'd be another 6 years of that. And meanwhile, some young men came back. And became cabbies ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/the-big-shave-1967

#CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge December 3: hugged on #LetsHugDay

Nanon (#JoanCrawford) is mortally afraid of men. Of their grabbing, grasping, groping hands. She only trust knife thrower Alonzo the Armless (#LonChaney) but he and accomplice (#TufeiFilhela) use the #circus to hide from the long arm of the law. Who'd suspect an armless man? The Unknown (1927) is arguably #TodBrowning and Chaney Sr's pinnacle of silent #precode #horror. 14 minutes are still missing. Check your attic!

#film #cinema @film